Mercy Celeste

I have opinions about writing styles. But, for a good story, I shove those opinions sideways into a wall so I can read despite them. Out Of The Blues has been waiting in my wish list since I read the amazon sample months ago. I started it yesterday, paused at the epilogue at 3 AM, and read that after six hours of sleep. I found it hard to slow down but necessary despite the author's apparent aversion to commas. The structure is alternating POV, all first person. It's an immediate, in-your-face choice, a little confusing but only momentarily. And, where too often sex scenes in romance are point by point positions and sounds, in this novel they are INTENSE. Every action is under the emotional and physical response overload of two men hella-attracted but fighting it.

I'm glad I read other romances and learned what I prefer and why before reading this one. Lack of commas and run-on sentences and a little confusion here and there are all worth an increasingly complex plot with messy characters in love and denial.… (més)

By the end of the free amazon ebook sample, I was intrigued enough to buy the book, and I enjoyed it. I read it straight through. Had it ended at the end of the last chapter, I'd have subtracted another star, but the epilogue made it much better.

I think the book could have used another edit pass. Although the characters are well done, establishing level of interest is cursory prior to connection. That was part of the intrigue, (how will this work?). I can pick it out now, but it needs to be more evident. THEY don't know they're in a romance novel headed for a HEA, after all.

There's also a breathless quality to extended dialog due to a lack of periods. I read kind of fast and need periods! :) Commas are just tiny little road bumps.… (més)